shelved

swish swish, back and forth, stain sliding across the wooden boards swiftly and easily

dip the brush, tap it gently on the side of the can

swish, swish again

as the stain flowed across the fence boards my thoughts began to drift, eventually settling on the yarns I had been making whilst away last month

pondering what to make with them, all too well knowing how unique the rovings were, nothing I could go out and get more of - in the world of art materials "unique" is a hop, skip and jump away from "precious" and the minute that word enters the psyche, a reluctance to use it sets in

years ago, as a panacea to that affliction, I began to create written and visual records of such things, mounting the materials in ever-increasingly creative ways, making small experimental samples of work using said materials, recording the what, where, when, why, and how of it all

I have shelves of books partially filled with all manner of such records

remembering that practice and my love of documenting my processes I resolved to create a ledger dedicated to the rovings and materials I used for the yarns I spun

a quick list swiftly followed:

a cut-out window on each page to weave a sample in

paint swatches detailing all the colours present in the roving

all the written information one could hope for

ideas for use

and ultimately, photos of the work it was used for

last night, as I thought about finishing the first of said pages it dawned on me that in many instances this work of documentation often becomes the only work that actually happens

and so I decided not to finish it... to just leave it as it is, at least for now, and to get on with some actual making, not just the recording of it

the only fly in the ointment is the fence, still needing a fair bit of work, still taking up much of my time so rather than start something new I decided to pick up some work that has been shelved for a couple of years

patches of wool felt stitched together, now to embroider the seams

striving for simple stitching; one strand, muted colours, a soft palette

the challenge is that the single strand sinks down into the wool so the stitches need to be somewhat larger than my usual size

some a little more complex, with more than one stitch

keeping it light and fresh

a little bit random

I will admit it feels better to be doing rather than writing about doing

Take care,

jillayne